Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Was thinking this post would no longer be timely, then Diamond bails me out

(This post is NSFW. It's not pornographic or anything, but I wanted to warn you that there are drawings of bare-chested ladies on down the line.)

So it's come to my attention that Diamond has named Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo's Joker the OGN of the year. For those curious, something called Dark Knight: The Joker 1:6 Scale Collector Figure won "Toy Product of the Year," (great year for cash-ins on Heath Ledger's likeness!) and Marvel Masterpieces Set 2 Trading Cards won Non-Sports Card Product of the Year. I'm glad to see that Collectable [sic] Statue of the Year was a separate category from Mini Bust of the Year; I'd hate to live in a world where Batman: Black & WhiteFrank Miller Statue and Women of the DCU Series 2Wonder Woman Bust wouldn't both receive some kind of award.

Even though there can be no doubting the immense prestige of the Diamond Gem awards (just re-read that first paragraph if you have any doubt), I probably wouldn't have made a mental note of any of this had there not been a post on a prominent blog about a month ago suggesting that Joker was the graphic novel of the year, and implying that anyone who doubted this was a stupid elitist who wanted to wrest the term "graphic novel" from the righteous grip of the masses. I had planned to write some kind of snide response, but then it dawned on me that I had not actually read Joker, nor even flipped through its pages. How could I write something suggesting that another writer was painfully ignorant and unfit to make such statements if I myself had not read the book in question? I mean, what if Joker made Maus look like, I don't know, Women of the DCU Series 2 Phantom Lady Bust? Who would look silly then?

So I went to Borders to find out for certain and, well, it's absolutely, positively not even close to being one of the best things I've read this year. Remember that list I made of all the stuff I would consider (or would like to consider) for a year's best list? Every single thing I've read on it is better than Joker, and not by just a little. I don't like Lee Bermejo's art at all, and I guess I'm immune to the charms of Brian Azzarello's writing (especially his dialogue, which I take to be one of his strengths according to his admirers). The whole thing felt like a gritty crime caper squeezed into a pair of ill-fitting spandex tights. That scene with the newsie? The one holding up a newspaper with a headline about the Joker's latest shenanigans, so as to inform the reader that Joker is back and Gotham is terrified? That's just schlocky. Terrible.

I mean, I understand the purpose of Joker is to exploit the most recent Batman movie, to attract consumers who liked Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker. (I would think the cover does it a disservice in that it's not clear this is the "movie" Joker, but the thing seems to have sold well enough, so what do I know?) Personally, I found it distracting, a constant reminder that this was a cash grab on DC's part. I mean, it's a smart move, and I don't blame them or anything; this is exactly the sort of thing bloggers rightfully complain about when some company (cough, MARVEL) fails to have a palatable tie-in for the quasi-interested moviegoer. But really, now: does Lee Bermejo have to "cast" Johnny Depp as the Riddler? I'm not sure if Bermejo drew this before or after Michael Caine claimed Depp would be in the next movie; either way, it's just as lame here as when Salvador Larocca or Bryan Hitch do it.

So no, I cannot fathom how anyone could proclaim Joker to be the best graphic novel of the year. It speaks to one of the following: (1) woeful unfamiliarity with the wide, wide array of comics with greater ambitions, and more successful realizations of their ambitions, that were published in 2008; (2) taste so far removed from my understanding of what constitutes worthwhile comics that I question my own grasp of reality; (3) a weird definition of "graphic novel" that excludes every halfway decent comic book-like thing which came out in 2008; or (4) a premium on appreciation for what shoveled the most money into a distributor's coffers in 2008.

As long as I was in my local Borders (which, BTW, looks about as sad as you'd expect given the chain's current woes--those manga shelves are anemic, they're literally debacled; on the other hand, you can't sneeze without tripping over a Watchmen display, or something like that), I figured I might as well check out a few other books which I had heretofore ignored when considering the best of 2008. In a couple of cases, I read copies from the local public library. Briefly:

Too Cool to Be ForgottenI never cared for Alex Robinson's art. In fact I hated it with a burning passion that has only faded in recent years as I've realized that it's not 1998 anymore, and that Robinson has probably learned a few things over the last decade-and-change. This is, of course, absolutely true; he's actually turned into a good cartoonist. I still don't find his style all that appealing, but he's a confident storyteller and character designer. It's a little annoying when you get the sense that Robinson is holding back a little--there's a sequence on page 94 that suggests that he's capable of more interesting linework than what fills most of Too Cool to Be Forgotten. But he's got a leg up on most working cartoonists.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty okay book until the end, which is about the schmaltziest thing I've read in ages (or it would be if I hadn't read (and reviewed) Never Land recently). It's a really hackneyed sort of ending, though I could see it really speaking to those with raw wounds similar to the protagonist's. But I still found it simplistic, implying that healing psychological wounds is kind of like solving a jigsaw puzzle. Too Cool to Be Forgotten is worth reading, and has as nicely designed a cover as I can remember seeing in 2008, but it's not one of the best comics of the year.

The AlcoholicFirst the cover: I hate photo covers on graphic novels. It makes sense for prose novels because there aren't any pictures inside, so it doesn't really matter what's on the cover as long as it's aesthetically pleasing and encourages purchases. Those are also the goal of most comics covers as well, but the difference is comics do have interior art. Having an interest in what's actually inside a graphic novel or comic, I expect the imagery on the front cover to bear some resemblance to the interior art. There are, of course, exceptions; I wouldn't dare complain about those great Carmine Infantino and Neal Adams covers in the 1960s, for instance. But that's partly because I think they're engaging in a type of visual narrative themselves, which, as Eddie Campbell has argued, is a sort of cousin to comics, and worth our time in and of themselves. (At least I think that's what Campbell has argued, but for the love of god don't go by my memory/interpretation of his words.) The cover of The Alcoholic, however, conveys the impression that the book is ashamed by its guts, almost like it's trying to lure in the fabled casual reader by intimating that it's not really a comic book. It's just like a regular book, see?

At least that's what I think whenever I see a cover like this one. This is at least a shade better than Vertigo's other major OGN for 2008, Incognegro, in that interior artist Dean Haspiel drew the napkin doodle on the cover. On the inside, I thought Haspiel's art was a bit less sharp than I remembered. There are some pages which do shine, like a scene towards the end of the book depicting the narrator (a basically non-veiled stand-in for writer Jonathan Ames) trying heroin for the first time. It's effective for a few reasons--the way the Jonathan's legs form panel gutters for instance--but it's also noteworthy that it's one of the few panels in which Haspiel's Jack Kirby influence is prominent. And that's really Haspiel's strong suit, those sorts of powerful images.

Unfortunately, part of what bugs me about this book is my doubt that Haspiel is the right artist for it. I think he's a fine artist, and his work with Harvey Pekar indicates that he can succeed in a collaborative effort, but I don't think he sounds the right tone here. No matter how mundane his material, Pekar's work is always very much steeped in the traditions of the traditional North American comic book, making Haspiel a good collaborator. Here, though, I think Haspiel's storytelling and cartooning is actually too big, too comic book-y. There's a lot of crying and sadness in this book, the depictions of which almost always involve mouths and eyes agape, actual rivers of tears flowing. Like, you could go white water rafting down those cheeks.

Part of this is Ames' fault as well, as he veers toward the melodramatic. When bad news is delivered over the phone (and it frequently is), characters stare directly into the reader's eyes, shouting NO NO NO in big bold letters. There's certainly a place for melodrama in comics, no question, but Ames and Haspiel seem to lose sight of what kind of book they're making. This is a cancer comic. I don't use that term in an entirely pejorative sense, since there have been many good tragedy-laden memoirs published in the last 10 years--the best probably being Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. But a cancer comic calls for at least some degree of subtlety, as seen in Bechdel's work, or in that of Emmanuel Guibert. (Alan's War isn't really a cancer comic, given the tone and content, but it's a cousin.) The approach here is more like the kind of made-for-TV movie I saw during my childhood. (Not-so-fun fact: CBS aired one such movie about a classmate of mine who shot and killed two guys who were apparently trying to rob his home.)

There are other problems, like my feeling that I didn't really learn much about the roots of Jonathan A.'s problems. Ames seems a little reluctant to discuss the possible influence of his parents and his upbringing, but it's probably hard to get out of your own skin when writing a memoir like this. The Alcoholic isn't a bad comic. It's certainly better than Joker (high praise indeed!) but probably not as good as Too Cool to Be Forgotten. I liked the ending, which actually makes the execution a bit more frustrating--this might have been pretty good if handled differently. Still, it's almost certainly going to be somewhere in the top 10 on the 2008 meta-list, so kudos for DC/Vertigo's publicity department's work in getting this into the right hands.

Northlanders

This comic is seriously okay. If graphic novels were widely available in airport newsstands, the homes of relatives hosting family gatherings, or the waiting rooms of dentists, tire stores, etc., then I would strongly recommend checking out the first volume of Northlanders. It captures the feeling of reading an issue of Quasar or Kull the Conqueror on a long drive with one's parents. I liked it better than Local or Demo.

You'll find the art by Davide Gianfelice and (particularly) colorist Dave McCraig quite good, at least at first. McCraig's rich colors gives it the appearance of stained glass at times, sort of an ironic (but not unpleasant) effect for a comic about Vikings. It also reminds me of Ernie Colon's art in his 1988 OGN Ax (which is pretty interesting, if you ever get the chance to flip through it). As the series wears on, Gianfelice's line art looks more rushed, the lines heavier and less expressive, almost bordering on latter-day Scott McDaniel territory. Brian Wood's writing provides occasional excitement, and lots of colorful language.

It is by no means one of the best comics or graphic novels of 2008, at least based on the first collection of issues. Maybe the single issues published last year improve dramatically; maybe I'll check out the second volume when it comes out later this year to see for sure.

48 comments:

According to Diamond's PR peeps:"Diamond Comic Distributors’ annual event is recognized within the comic book industry as the pinnacle of sales achievement for comic book artists, writers, publishers and industry executives."Translation: The Gem Awards are like the '#1 Whore' coffee mugs a pimp gives his top earners.

Good calls. I thought 2Cool was pretty damn good, but I recognize that people might not agree, especially about the sentimental ending. In fact, I had a mini-discussion with Tucker Stone about it, and he agrees with you, for what it's worth.

Joker sure seems ridiculous; I suppose I could read it at some point, but I really doubt it would supplant anything in my top 25. It's the kind of thing for people who were upset that The Dark Knight didn't get nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: a "serious" take on superhero nonsense. God, I'm so sick of that shit.

I haven't read Alcoholic, so I can't really comment on that one, but I do like Northlanders. I would agree that it's not really year's best material though (depending on your tastes, of course); it's a solid bit of pulp. Unless, of course, the second or third storylines improved immeasurably. I'll definitely buy the collections of those; I'm curious to check out Ryan Kelly's artwork.

I'm still waiting for that meta-list, man, or at least your personal list. You make me look timely.

I agree with you regarding "Too Cool...". For me it was nice, but way too neatly wrapped up - the ending was schmaltzy and sort of tacked on.

I liked "The Alcoholic" more than "Too Cool" by quite a bit. I felt like there was more too it. The constant "I need help/I am fine" struggle Jonathan A. tries to balance felt real to me, even if I had to look past Haspiel's art - you nailed it, it was too cartoony. That scene where he tried heroin, for instance, shouldn't have felt as bright as it did...the author is on a multi-day drug binge in a motel with a bunch of tranny hookers and it came off like he could have been anywhere.

That being said, I read this and "Bottomless Belly Button" over the course of the same week (yes, as you can see, I wait for "Best of" lists to come out and head to the library). BBB's art is obviously not at Haspiel's level...and yet, I feel like the character's various emotions and setting are far better conveyed. So maybe it wasn't purely the art I had a problem with.

Anyway, like Matt said - looking forward to your list and the meta-list...

What kind of amuses me about all the links to this post (of which Tom Spurgeon's was the funniest) is that I actually liked all of these books much more than I thought I would. Except for Joker, which turned out to be more or less exactly what I expected.

For those who followed the link from the Beat expecting Chris Butcher and Brian Hibbs arguing about Viz' backlist: sorry! I assume the post Heidi was referring to is at the Savage Critics.

Brian: Dash Shaw's art "obviously not at Haspiel's level"? How... what scale are you measuring them on? What axis runs parallel to the two completely different artistic projects those guys are pursuing? No offense intended, but you sound a little like those people who prefer Alex Ross to Chris Ware because Ross is closer to Neal Adams.

* "“I actually drew an image for a Batman website in 2005 that pretty much established the look of the Joker as I draw him,” says Bermejo of his forthcoming Joker graphic novel in collaboration with writer Brian Azzarello. “I was about 40 pages into drawing this graphic novel when they released the first image of Ledger.”" http://www.bluetights.net/theplanet/showthread.php?t=26087

**"Azzarello explained that he wrote his Joker graphic novel two years ago, before any images or information about The Dark Knight had been out, so he was absolutely not influenced by the movie. However, he suggested, some of Lee Bermejo’s scarred Joker designs were online, so perhaps the movie was influenced by their book." http://www.newsarama.com/comics/020907-NYCC-Vertigo.html

Leigh: You are absolutely right, and my intent was not to say one was better than the other...I meant to say they are incomparable (level was the wrong word...vocabulary failed me there). I was just trying to say that while Haspiel's art might not have felt like the perfect fit for the story, he isn't the only one responsible in communicating the ______ (despair/depravity, etc). And I just didn't think everything was communicated as strongly across some of the scenes in the book as they could have been.

That being said, I pointed out I may be unfairly comparing it to a book (BBB) that communicated emotion so strongly (to me). Like you pointed out, these books are no where near the same comparison point and shouldn't be compared/contrasted to each other. In my initial post, I was supposing that I may have been doing just that...and I didn't intend to.

Anonymous, do you really seriously think that Bermejo's Joker was the influence for not only Ledger's makeup (which, from what I remember, he said he started messing around with as soon as he was cast in the role), but also the costume design (which is a pretty strong departure from anything I ever remember seeing the Joker wear in the past)? If so, Bermejo should be in the early stages of a long, successful career in the film industry, since he's so prescient as to the sort of things the general public want from blockbuster films. Adi Granov has nothing on this guy!

All that aside, does it really make Joker any better? I would have thought it terrible no matter what the Joker looked like--there just would have been a different emphasis to my review. Some examples: Why does the Joker flip off Gotham City like a surly teenager if he's such a badass? Why is Bermejo's art so brutally ugly? Why include every other major Batman villain, since it undercuts any edginess and turns this more into a series of designs for a line of toys? It's like one of those McFarlane abominations, "Dark Wizard of Oz" or something. Streets of Gotham! See how the Riddler, Killer Croc, the Penguin, and all of Batman's other foes would look if they were marginally more realistic and every bit ridiculous! You may even find that the injection of "reality" amplifies the ridiculousness to a startling degree!

Joker sucked. You should thank Brian Wood for doing your research for you.

I didn't say Bermejo said that, I said Ledger said it. I'm not going to go looking for a link to the story; assuming I didn't just imagine it, it should be easy enough to find. In any event, I really don't care that the book exploits Ledger's likeness; in fact, I said that doing so was a pretty smart strategy. It's just an amazing coincidence that the designs are so similar. I don't want to say any more than that, because I don't have a copy of Joker at hand.

And just to repeat what I said before, this is not the main reason why the book is terrible. Hell, the obvious similarities between Ledger and Bermejo's Joker is the one and only aspect of the book I came close to praising. If this was not, in fact, a calculated effort to cash in on the movie, then the book is even less interesting. And if this is all an amazing coincidence, then I guess Bermejo deserves some extra blame for coming up with such an ugly character design.

But yeah, I get frustrated for what passes for "criticism" of comics "criticism" a lot of the time.

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